Her steps slowed as Red called back out to her. Slowed... but they didn't stop completely. The more outrageous things the girl said, the stiffer Beauty's back became. Her discomfort around Red had only grown, but now that discomfort was slowly coloring with anger.
It took all her will not to turn back around, not to engage this strange young woman directly, not to set her straight. It was wildly inappropriate to talk about -- much less suggest! -- the touching she was suggesting Beauty do with... Eric. And the rest of the things she was saying.... cruel nonsense. Red talked as if she weren't human, as if she were something else. Like Thomas, she thought to herself. "Just like Thomas." And she wasn't aware she said it out loud.
But the truth was that if she turned around, if she told Red just exactly how inappropriate she was being, and just how wrong she was about Eric, then she may destroy the thing that Eric was trying to do when he told her... whatever it was he told Red. No, she should be true to Eric. She should wait and let him tell her what was said... If Eric were spreading lies about....
But no, no, Eric was so interested in the honesty of others; how could he then lie about their acquaintance in such a brazen manner? Unless... he was trying to protect her? Oh, it was a mess, it was just a mess.
Beauty kept walking. And she started thinking about how she could find Eric.